Nature of the job

Published: Friday, March 21, 2014 at 07:52 PM.

There’s a lot to do at the Neuseway Nature Center, from giving tours to maintaining the campground. But Director Bobby Cox has perhaps the most important job of all: Cleaning up after the animals that populate the center.

Cox said safety is always a key when it comes to cleaning. And the job is important, not just for the cleanliness of the center but the animals’ health.

“We have to safely remove the animal depending upon the species,” he said. “Sometimes we have venomous snakes such as rattlesnakes and copperheads. We have to be very careful when we remove them to make sure we are safe and that they are safe.”

Cox then puts the snakes into a container before scooping out the cage and putting down fresh bedding.

There’s a lot to do at the Neuseway Nature Center, from giving tours to maintaining the campground. But Director Bobby Cox has perhaps the most important job of all: Cleaning up after the animals that populate the center.

Cox said safety is always a key when it comes to cleaning. And the job is important, not just for the cleanliness of the center but the animals’ health.

“We have to safely remove the animal depending upon the species,” he said. “Sometimes we have venomous snakes such as rattlesnakes and copperheads. We have to be very careful when we remove them to make sure we are safe and that they are safe.”

Cox then puts the snakes into a container before scooping out the cage and putting down fresh bedding.

“We also clean the glass and if rocks have poop or anything on them or anything, we have to do that too.”

Cox uses rubber gloves and a mask when he cleans.

“We need to filter the air we breathe because the bark in these cages disintegrates, turning into a fine dust and breathing it in can be bad for you,” he said.

Cox said the biggest challenge is removing the animals from the cages during the cleaning process.

“We have to be as safe as possible,” he said.

Cox said cages are cleaned on a rotating basis. He usually cleans when he gets to the center at 6:30 a.m. each morning.

“I usually try to clean out a few cages a week,” he said. “Sometimes I might clean out the snake cages all in one day if I don’t have a group coming in. There are also time where I will clean two cages in a day and then do two more three days later.”

Cox said he also spot cleans if he sees a small area is dirty.

He said said cleaning outside bird cages can be aggravating, especially during cold weather.

“We have to spray those cages down,” Cox said. “I swear if you could bottle bird poop it would be the best glue in the world. We go out there every morning, wash the cages down and get the old food out of there. When it gets to be 25 degrees and the wind is blowing, we still have to clean those cages.”

The center is also home to several dozen varieties of fish and Cox said cleaning up after them is not too bad.

“We usually cut the filter systems off, spray the glass down to get the algae off as needed and of course scrub the back walls,” he said. “The only thing we have to be tedious with is making sure we are careful around the venomous fish.”

Even though it’s not too hard of a task, Cox said the aquariums are time consuming.

“I probably do more work on the aquariums than anything else,” he said. “There’s a lot of water that we push around with all of the visits. When you are dealing with that you’ve got to make sure the chemicals are right.”

Cox said the job may not be pretty, but it’s an important part of keeping the center running.

“Work is work, it all has to be done,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are cleaning a cage or playing with an animals.”

Noah Clark can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Noah.Clark@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @nclark763.